Nephi and Friends

Transfer Calls!

 

Elder Lonas stays in Btown, as does his companion Elder T!  I'm stoked, it's gonna be a sweet transfer.  This last transfer was my fastest transfer yet, I can't believe its over.  Plus, this next transfer is only 5 weeks.  (This is a one time deal, they will go back to being 6 weeks as always)  But yeah, it's crazy.  I can't believe I've been out for 13 months, time just goes so fast. 

 

Sad news: we're losing our boys.  we will really miss them and all their shenanigans.  Nevertheless, we will press forward, and make this the best transfer ever!  

 

Have I told you how much I love studying? I've gotten so much better at it the past transfer, I think I've learned so much from my companion.  I re-started the Book of Mormon a few days ago.  I feel like I know Nephi and friends better than I have in my whole life, and more importantly, I'm being taught how to be a better missionary.  It's really cool, I studied Chapter 17 this morning, it was a blast :)

 

We had the baptism of Wallace this weekend, it was great :) 

 

We also had our first meeting with our new bishop, and we scheduled our weekly meetings with our new Ward Mission Leader.  The Bremerton zone tends to have trouble working with the Bremerton stake, but we're going to try our best!

 

Shoot, so I've been meaning to repent and write longer, more detailed emails, but I'm also having trouble balancing time.  I also have been trying to be better and write longer, more detailed letters to our mission president, but then I am out of time! I only have 2 minutes left.

 

Next time maybe I'll write this first? 

 

Anyways, sorry it's short again....

 

Love,

Elder Lonas

...a really tiny wimpy email.

January 22, 2013

 

Hello!

 

It's been a really great week.  This has been the fastest transfer of my mission so far. 

 

We've worked really hard, and miracles have been all over the place  Wallace (I think I mentioned him before) is doing great.  We were actually finishing up giving a church tour with another investigator, when lo and behold, a knock at the church door.  Wallace biked (10 ish miles) to the church at about 7:30pm. why? Because he lost our number, and thought we might be there.  We had visited him earlier on that day in the morning, just to check up on his Book of Mormon reading.  (he wanted to read the whole thing before he got baptized)  We asked him if he felt like his reading was going well, how far was he, what he felt, etc.  he was up to 1 Nephi, chapter 8, and was really enjoying it.  When he biked to the church that night, he had read up through chapter 13, and then re-read it all again to soak it in.  He came to the church to find us, and tell us he knew it was true, and wanted to be baptized :) He came to church on Sunday as well, and loved it. 

 

We've had some other cool miracles too, I'll update you on Ted next week if everything goes well...

 

I really can't believe this transfer is almost over.  I'm really sad about it. I'm happy here and Elder T will almost definitely be transferred.

 

I know i know i know, this was a really tiny wimpy email.  I'll try and do better next week.

 

Love,

Lonas

I wish I could restart my mission

January 14, 2013

I'm really sad I'll probably just have 1 transfer with Elder T, cause I really like him.  I laugh all day long, and he teaches me so much.  I've grown and learned so much in the past few weeks, it's crazy.

Here's our philosophy: we're here to find, teach, and baptize the prepared.  And if they aren't prepared, we don't really continue to meet with them. we'll make occasional visits, but if they aren't keeping commitments, there is nothing we can do to help them progress, and we only have 2 short years to do the Lord's work full time.  So we had another baptism this weekend, and now we are pretty much teaching pool-less.

This week we spent the vast majority of our time finding.  Why?  Because sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven!  Eternal principle :)  I love tracting.  We found some really cool new people this week, I'll try and give a quick synopsis. 

1) Lisa.  Really sweet lady. she's a little bit older, and right now in her life she is going through......everything. I'll spare you the details, they really are depressing, but I'll just say she's had some really hard struggles. So we knock on her door, and she invites us in.  I'm with Elder J at the time, and so we go in, and start talking to her.  As she is telling us about her religious background, I felt really strongly like I should teach her about the atonement. So we do :) we shared with her Alma 7:11, and the spirit was really strong, and then we shared Mosiah 18. (I LOVE that chapter :)  I think she understands that Heavenly Father led us to her door that night when she needed us.  She wants to learn more before she sets a date, but she wants to be baptized in a few weeks, so we're really really happy for her :)

2) Wallace.  So I wasn't actually here for this, so I don't have much to say, but Elder T and S were knocking and it had been a long day.  After knocking doors all week,  on this day we were closing in on our 7th hour of knocking doors, and on top of that, we were all fasting, so we were all tired. On the last door, of the last street, they knock into Wallace. He comes down for a church tour, and they taught him the restoration.  He is so excited about the Book of Mormon, and is dying to read the whole thing.  At the rate he's going, he could finish it this week :)  He wants to be baptized in a few weeks as well, the date will depend on how fast he reads, he wants to finish it first.  :)

I'm really into studying the scriptures right now.  I've gotten so much better at studying. I wish I could restart my mission, with all the experiences and things I've learned over the past year, and then have a full two years ahead of me!  But I guess it doesn't work like that, so I gotta make this next year count. 

I read the second half of Alma recently, then all of Helaman, and I just got into Mosiah.  It's always been one of my favorite books, and I've never loved it more than this time around.  If anyone is looking for some scripture study ideas, I'd recommend starting in Mosiah, and read with some of these ideas in mind: Justice & Mercy, Helaman 12:24, Authorship style/word choice, and Agency. 

Love, Elder Chase Williams Lonas

January 7, 2013

January 7, 2013

 

Welllllllllllllllllllllllll,

This week we knocked a LOT of doors.  And in the coming week we hope to knock even more.  This is our battle strategy.

 

Also on Saturday we had a really awesome baptism.  Mark was baptized, and he is so excited and happy about it, as are we :)  The spirit there was really strong, and I was really really grateful to be there.

Lately I've been playing music at baptisms.  Not the opening and closing hymns and stuff, but the prelude and interlude and postlude, and any lude.   It's really fun, and  I'm getting better at it. 

 

Also getting much better at basketball. in case anyone was wondering how that was progressing.

 

I've been enjoying my personal and companionship studies more this transfer than at any time before.  Every morning now I'm sad when each study ends.  I'm learning so much and I wish I had perfect retention.  I really love the scriptures so much.

 

Well, we have an appointment in a few minutes, so I gotta run.  And by run, I mean drive.  Running would be silly :)

I still look like a teenager...

Hello friends!

 

My week has been great!  :)    Christmas was amazing, and I can't believe I'm 20 now.  That sounds old to me.  but I still look like a teenager, haha. 

 

I love my companions. Elder T is hilarious, and lives up to his reputation as a missionary.  He cracks me up every day, and teaches me a lot about the scriptures and how to be a missionary.  I love it :)  Elders S and J are great too.  they both actually came out together one transfer before me.  It's weird, I'm the youngest one in the district!

 

Well, we knocked a lot of doors this week, that was fun...

 

Oh, we started teaching this one lady who's really cool.  She's a single mom with an adorable 15 month year old daughter, and another baby on the way.  She's really sweet, so I'll try to remember to keep you updated on her as that progresses.

 

Our plans for this week are basically knock every door in Bremerton, until we found the people whom God has prepared for us, and wants us to find. 

 

And that's it.  :)